1. Field of the Invention
This invention describes a bubble domain system in which information can be stored in two dimensions, with all four directions of motion possible to allow continuous accessing of contiguous information, and more particularly to a two-dimensional storage-two-dimensional accessing technique.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the bubble domain technology, several techniques are shown for making bi-directional bubble domain shift registers. One such technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,002 which shows a bubble domain shift register capable of being accessed at either end of the register.
Other bubble domain propagation schemes show circuits for moving bubble domains in two dimensions. One such scheme is shown in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Volume 18, No. 11, April 1976, at p. 3804. In that publication, permalloy overlay patterns are shown for moving bubble domains in either the x or y direction, depending upon the magnetic field used to move the bubble domains. Other references generally dealing with two-dimensional bubble domain shift registers are IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Volume MAG-8, pp. 367-369, September 1972, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,723,985; 3,460,116; and 3,534,346. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,985 discloses an electrically controllable bubble transfer circuit located at the intersection of plural magnetic domain field access propagation paths. A plurality of such path intersections are interconnected to form row and column shift registers of a two-dimensional shift register. All of the transfer circuits are connected to be driven together to realize propagation in two different directions in each field access cycle.
While the prior art does describe the use of two-dimensional shift registers for information storage in a bubble memory, the art does not describe two-dimensional accessing techniques combined with two-dimensional storage. Further, the prior art does not show techniques for permitting high speed accessing at the same data rate in both the x and y directions of a two-dimensional storage system. Moreover, the prior art does not show techniques for accessing information continuously along an arbitrary locus in the x-y storage plane.
In order to provide a two-dimensional bubble storage system having two dimensional access to information therein, where high speed accessing can occur at the same rate in the x and y directions, the present invention uses two-dimensional storage and two-dimensional propagation of bubbles, together with bubble sensors which are distributed to allow detection of data streams in two dimensions. Means are provided to facilitate sharing of interconnections and circuits so that fast access will be provided without increasing the need for electrical paths or peripheral circuits. Further, this system will provide a continuous scan of data in a two-dimensional data locus.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved bubble domain storage system having both two-dimensional data storage and two-dimensional data accessing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a two-dimensional data storage, two-dimensional data access system in which high data rates can be achieved in both dimensions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a bubble domain storage array having rapid access in the x and y directions, where data access is more rapid than in conventional bubble domain shift registers.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a two-dimensional bubble storage system which allows block access of data in two dimensions.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a two-dimensional bubble domain storage system comprised of a plurality of bubble domain storage arrays wherein information is readily translated between adjacent storage arrays.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved bubble domain storage system having two-dimensional storage and two-dimensional data accessing, wherein bubble domain write, read, clear, and annihilate circuits are distributed to serve a plurality of bi-directional, two-dimensional bubble storage registers.